Once upon a time in The Land there lived a Queen and a King. They had lots of money and jewels and servants and everything that Queens and Kings were supposed to have - everything except a child. They wanted a baby more than anything else.
Finally after many years, the Queen gave birth to a baby girl while the Moon was in Cancer. The King named her Stephen, for although he was happy enough to have a child, he really wanted a boy to be his heir. (The men in The Land always wanted boys to carry on their names and other such things.)
Then quite naturally the Queen and the King gave a big feast in Stephen's honor when she was a few months old. Since they only had twelve golden plates they could only invite twelve of the thirteen witches who lived in The Land. These were good and powerful witches and the Queen and the King thought that they could only serve them on golden plates. They didn't think at all about how insulted and hurt the thirteenth witch would be because she wasn't invited.
Actually, some people think there was more to it than that. The thirteenth witch, Gertrude, wasn't like all the other witches. For even though the other twelve were witches, they were very concerned with being delicate and ladylike and they would never have thought of cutting their long tresses.
But Gertrude had long ago cut her hair quite short and strode about so that people said she walked like a man and didn't give a damn for what people thought she should act like. So people were afraid and suspicious of her because she was "different" (but they were attracted to her at the same time for the same reasons.)
So people have said (and I believe it myself) that the Queen and the King purposely didn't invite Gertrude and used the golden plates as an excuse.
On the night of the feast there was a full moon and all the guests arrived in fine humor. The witches flew in on their brooms through the window at the far end of the hall. After everyone had eaten and drunk to satisfaction (if not too much) the witches got up one at a time to bestow their witchly gifts on the Princess Stephen (who was asleep by this time.)
The witches gave to the princess all the things they thought a girl-woman had to have in order to be successful and get herself a good Prince.
They gave her Beauty and Gentleness and Laughter and Softness and Virtue and Patience and Wisdom and Humility and Inner Strength and Love and Honesty.
Suddenly there was the loud crash of glass breaking. Gertrude arrived, right through the window, unhurt. She got off her broomstick and strode angrily down the hall.
Everyone gasped.
GASP !
Everyone jumped back.
Princess Stephen woke up with a start and began crying.
When Gertrude reached the banquet table she looked straight at Princess Stephen and smiled intensely. Stephen suddenly quieted down. Angrily, Gertrude said, "You will pay for your parents' meanness. When you reach the age of fifteen you will prick your finger on a spinning needle and you will die."
Princess Stephen, motionless, stared intently at Gertrude the whole time.
There was deathly silence in the hall as Gertrude straddled her broom, circled the hall once, laughing quietly, and flew out the window. It was broken only by the sound of Princess Stephen gurgling. And as the guests broke into frightened chatter, Stephen lay in her bed sucking her toes.
Suddenly the twelfth witch, Kathryn, jumped up and said, "I haven't granted my gift yet. I cannot completely undo the curse of Gertrude, because she is too powerful. Let it be that although the Princess will prick her finger, she will not die. She will fall into a deep sleep for one hundred years. At the end of the one hundred years she will be as young and fresh as the day she laid down and she will be awakened by the kiss of her one true love.
That very instant, the Queen and the King ordered that every spinning wheel in The Land be destroyed and made it an unpardonable crime to be found with one.
As the years went by the Princess Stephen grew up into a young woman. She especially liked to ride horses (she had her own in her back yard) and play with her dog. She also liked to climb trees. And it must be said that she was not very fond (to say the least) of putting on dresses and behaving real princess-like for royal functions.
On the day before the Princess Stephen's fifteenth birthday, the Queen and the King went on a trip. Stephen was left all alone in the royal castle and she decided to explore it. Since it was so big (as all royal castles are) it wasn't until almost midnight that she reached the very topmost turret and opened the door to a small room.
In it was an old woman working on a strange-looking thing that Stephen had never seen.
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
"It's a spinning wheel, child. There used to be many of them in The Land."
"I've never seen one," Stephen said, slowly approaching the old lady.
"Come in and try it," the old lady encouraged.
BONG! BONG! BONG!
Stephen reached out her hand.
BONG! BONG! BONG!
Stephen touched the spinning wheel.
BONG! BONG! BONG!
The clock started to sound the twelve bells of midnight.
BONG! BONG! BONG!
She suddenly drew back her hand and shouted, "Ow!"
There was a little drop of blood on her finger where she had pricked it on a spinning needle. The old lady smiled and then she and the spinning wheel vanished.
Stephen looked in surprise, forgetting the pain in her finger for the moment. Then she lay down on the floor and fell into a deep sleep. In fact everyone and everything in the royal castle fell asleep: The cows and horses and chickens and maids and butlers. The clock stopped. And when the Queen and The King returned they fell asleep also.
Only the bushes around the castle kept growing.
Everyone in The Land was very sad. Young men and Princes from Other Lands heard about the Princess asleep in the royal castle and came to try to wake her up. They called her Sleeping Beauty and each one thought that he would have the magic kiss and the magic touch to wake Stephen out of her sleep. (The men in Those Lands had a way of thinking that about themselves a lot of The Times.)
As the years flew by they kept coming. The bushes around the castle fought them, tripped them, entangled them, choked them, and actually captured a bunch of them.
Some of them got in, but the Princess never responded at all. And then the young men and Princes would leave angry.
And so it continued for ninety-nine years.
One day in Another Land, a young girl heard about Stephen and knew that she must go to her. She did not exactly understand her feelings, but they were so strong that she knew she must listen to them. So she packed a little knapsack and borrowed some of her brother's clothes (for she figured she would be safer on the road if people thought she was a boy) and she set off for The Land.
By the time the young girl reached the castle she was firm and strong and brown from the sun and she could walk as fast and as long as anyone. Her heart was pounding as she first sighted the castle. She stopped to press a leaf from the castle bushes against her face. She looked long at the castle and let the quiet stillness of it flow through her body. She looked long at the topmost turret window for she had heard that there slept Stephen.
She stepped gently through the bushes, for they did not fight her at all. She flew up the steps to the turret and quietly opened the door. There lay Stephen, still fiteen and young and fresh, just as she had lain down one hundred years before.
The young girl walked slowly over and put down her knapsack. Kneeling, she reached out her hand and gently touched Stephen's cheek. So soft. The young girl trembled. It was so beautiful and yet she had never heard of a girl loving another girl. But her soul and body moved. She leaned over and kissed Stephen's cheek. She cupped Stephen's face with her two hands and touched her lips to Stephen's.
Stephen trembled and opened her eyes.
Stephen put her hand on the young girl's hand and asked in a quiet voice, "Who are you?"
"My name is Lilith and I have come from The Other Land to love you."
They looked deep into each other's eyes and then Stephen said, "For one hundred years I have slept and many men have tried to awaken me, but none touched me as you have. Your hand on my face is like cool water and it flows through my whole body, even to my toes and fingertips. You drew me gently and strongly out of my sleep."
They held each other close for many minutes, rubbing their cheeks together and shyly and gently touching each other.
They did not hear Gertrude come in through the door. As she spoke they looked up. Stephen smiled broadly at her.
"Forgive me Stephen. Cursing you as I did was the only way I knew how to help you save your innocence of body and soul until Lilith could arrive. It was in the stars, but sometimes we must help the stars do their intentions. I knew that no man's touch could awaken you, that only another woman could love you enough to awaken your body and your spirit which had been resting and waiting for so long. Your parents have never liked me because they sensed my freedom and my love for other women. And you must be strong to face them, both of you, for you have tasted the fullness of love of one woman for another and you know there can be no turning back."
Stephen threw her arms around Gertrude and Lilith threw her arms around them both and they hugged and laughed and kissed and cried and thought they must be the luckiest and loveliest lesbians ever.
The Queen and the King were so thrilled to be awake (for when Stephen woke up, everyone else did also) and to see their daughter awake again, that they could not be VERY VERY VERY angry. They were angry some though. But they were won over by the strength and beauty of their daughter's love for Lilith, and by the caring and gentleness between them.
So Stephen and Lilith lived together in the royal castle of The Land and when the Queen and the King died they became the Queen and the Queen.
And the beauty and serenity and womanliness of The Land was known far and wide and women from all over came to visit, and many stayed and lived there. Soon Stephen and Lilith realized they didn't like living in the castle separated from all their friends and having to be Queens.
So they freed all the servants (who were just about to walk out anyway because they were tired of always doing other people's work and wanted to live their own lives) and decided that from that day on there would be no more royalty and all the women would live and work together as equals.
Gertrude went back to the forest to live but they all used to see each other a lot.
And so it happened that Sleeping Beauty slept for one hundred years and was awakened by a woman's kiss and that kiss ignited a passion and a tenderness which was felt somehow by women all over. And so it happened that many lesbians came to The Land and found strength in each other and were beautiful.
And that is the end of this fairy tale and it is also the beginning.